"Many experts on black baseball say that Poles
was one of the greatest outfielders to have ever played the game. The 5'7"
165 pounds Poles, a bowlegged switch hitting outfielder, played in an era
from which most Negro League statistics are lost, but an indication of
his greatness was his nickname, "The Black Ty Cobb".

He broke into professional black baseball as
the center fielder and lead off hitter for the powerful 1909 Philadelphia
Giants. He moved on the New York Lincoln Giants in 1911, where he
batted .440 for the season and stole 41 bases in only 60 games. He
hit .398 in 1912, .414 in 1913, and .487 in 1914. With the Lincoln
club in the 10 game 1915 black championship, Poles batted only .205, but
because of his speed and base running ability scored 11 runs. In a 15 year
Negro League career, Poles is credited with a .400 lifetime batting average
and a .319 average for the four winter seasons he spent in Cuba.
He is also credited with a .610 batting average in exhibition games against
major league competition, many of which took place while Poles was in Cuba.

Poles enlisted in the 369th Infantry, United
States Army, in 1917 at the age of thirty, and earned five battle stars
and a Purple Heart while fighting in France.

He resumed his baseball career following the
war but, tired of the constant travel that was part of the Negro League
player's life, he retired in 1923. After leaving the game, Poles
opened his own taxi service and later worked with his wife Bertha, who
is also buried at Arlington, at Olmsted Air Force Base.

Poles died in 1962 and lies buried in Section
42 of Arlington National Cemetery.

In the on going effort by Negro League historians
to get the National Baseball Hall of Fame to induct more Negro League players,
Poles is a player whose name often appears."